Delhi Fog

As we left the Arrivals Hall in Indira Gandhi International Airport, and even before we left the building, we became aware of the sight and smell of smoke.  When we asked the driver whether it was always so smoky, he said "It's fog." 

Blue Skies!

With the "fog" and generally overcast skies, even after we left Delhi for the Golden Triangle Tour, we did not see blue sky until Friday (November 12) as we traveled from Agra to Jaipur.

Back in Delhi, we asked our travel coordinator about the smoke.  She said that it was probably the result of all of the fireworks and burning of incense used to celebrate the five-day Dewali, or "Festival of Lights," that had just completed on November 9, the evening before we arrived.  The air did become less smoky over the next few days, even though we saw trash being burned in the streets.

Then we entered the wedding season.  Every night until well past midnight the fireworks boomed like artillery around our Guest House. The next morning we would see the "fog" again and smell the smoke.  

In the future, the smell of wood smoke will always trigger memories of Delhi.

Electronics

It is impossible to travel these days without sufficient electronic support:  for us, this included a computer, a camera, and everything necessary in interface them together and to recharge their batteries.  We took 834 still pictures and video clips; these fit easily on one 8GB Kingston Class 6 SDHC flash memory card.  We did not use the two backup memory cards (same type) that we took with us, since we were easily able to upload the pictures to the computer.

We brought an interface between the camera and computer for uploading pictures; unfortunately, we could not find software to allow us to then upload the pictures to the blog.

"Electronics" also included power converters and adapters.  Just for this trip, we bought a Travel Smart By Conair Adapter/Converter Combo with Surge Protection ($26.48 from amazon.com).  It refused to stay plugged into any outlet we tried in India and will be returned to the seller.  Luckily, we had thrown our old Norelco Model TC160 voltage converter into the luggage at the last minute as a backup.

Two other (both dual-voltage) electric appliances we took were a hair dryer and a curling iron, but we did not use either.

We also brought along a small pair of (non-electronic) binoculars, but never used them.

How do people stay so clean?

Beautiful Saris: A Common Sight

One thing we've noticed is that, despite the environment, most people seem very clean and neatly dressed. This is a difficult environment to thrive in -- let alone survive -- and they seem to do it well.

Last Day in India

Wednesday, November 24.

Today is our last day in India. Our flight is scheduled to leave at 11:35 pm from Indira Gandhi International Airport. Even though the Guest House is literally under the arrival path to the airport, we must allow 1 hour to get there so that we will be 3 hours early for our flight. So we will bid farewell to our hosts here at 7:30, missing our 8:30 dinner. But if the flight out is anything like the one in, we will be stuffed with food shortly after departure! Our driver will get us safely inside the airport as far as he can take us; then we will really say goodbye to the good people who have done so much to make our stay easy and happy.

Our Room 1st Floor Main House

Today is a lazy day. We have seen and done about everything we can in such a short visit. We will go out for a short time this afternoon, but otherwise we are just taking it easy. We are all packed up and Pati is napping. The Wifi is down, due to a short rain shower this morning. If it doesn't come back, then this will be posted tomorrow.

We are the only guests here today. The guests in the next room left for the airport at 5 am this morning for Kerala in the south of India, to spend 2 weeks on the beach. Tomorrow and the next day they will have a full house, renting all their rooms to a local wedding party.

Our Room Behind Main House and Steps to Room Above

Library

The Guest House has 5 rooms they rent in addition to their private rooms on the second floor. Each rented room has 2 single or full size beds. One of the rooms is on the first floor of the main house; we stayed there our first night before going on the Golden Triangle tour. There is another building behind the main house, with two large rooms and a library on the lower floor and a small charming room reached by outside stairs up above. For the last week, we have been in one of the downstairs rooms. Before that, we spent one night in the upstairs room when we got back from the Triangle Tour. (The couple that was booked into the upstairs room couldn't navigate the stairs, so we traded rooms for a night.) The 5th room, we are told, is just inside the front gate, but we really can't figure out where it is, since there doesn't seem to be enough room from the outside for a room to be on the inside!

We are fed three delicious meals a day, at 8:30am, 1:30pm, and 7:30 pm. We guests take our meals together family style in a large dining room in the main house. From the windows of our current room, we can watch the cook work all day in the large kitchen.

The house has a staff of 10. In addition to the 4 drivers, there is a guard always at the gate, the cook, a nanny for the 2 children, a gardener (who sweeps the yard), a young woman who cleans and does laundry, and a woman who cleans the bathrooms.

The family that lives here includes the owner and his wife, their son and his wife, and 2 grandchildren (8.5 year-old boy and 5 year-old girl). We have seen the father once to say hello and the son once to present our passports and sign the guest register. The children play in the yard sometimes but spend their evenings in the family quarters. The boy is very proud of his razor scooter. The women really run the house and make all the arrangements for their guests.

This Guest House will be our first choice of a place to stay if (when!) we return to India. When Pati awoke from his nap, he started reading planning guides for trips to India!

Location:New Delhi, India

Malls

"The Largest Silver Ganesha in the World"
at Select Citywalk Mall

Tuesday (November 23) we went to a modern shopping mall in South Delhi; well, three of them, actually. From the outside, they look like one large mall, but each has its own security system: guards, scanners, barriers. To go between malls, you first leave the one you are in through its security exit, and then enter the next mall through its security entrance. Men and women have separate queues; bags are searched; bodies are wanded. At least Beebee wasn't patted down again!

The three malls are called Select Citywalk, MGF and DLF Place Saket.
These malls have many of the same store you see at home: Levi's, Marks & Spencer (British), DKNY Jeans, in addition to a few Indian stores (labeled "ethnic wear") such as Fabindia.

While so very very modern, these malls miss in trying to be hip hop Western. As we entered the first mall, we heard (and reheard many times as the set repeated) "You took a fine time ... to leeeeave me ... Lucillllle ... four hungry chill'rin ... and the crops inn ... th' fieeeeeeld."

We were probably the only people in the whole mall(s) to appreciate that tune! Or, we could be the only ones who don't appreciate it!!

Location:South Delhi, India

Beggars and Con Men

One thing that has been sad to see in India is the beggars. Some are adorable children, others old women, and most of the rest are maimed. We're advised to simply ignore them but this is difficult. From what we've read, the children are run in gangs by adults who take any money the children are given. The children stand at intersections and pound on the doors of cars containing foreigners. If you're on foot and give money, you'll be surrounded by a mob of beggars who are said to distract you while picking your pocket once they see where your money is kept. The old ladies chase people! India produces superb female sprinters. We've ignored the beggars as advised but it seems cruel.

Something more on the irritating side is the con men. We were at a park yesterday and one targeted us like a heat-seeking missile. Before we could get away, he pinned an extremely cheap "flag of India" pin on Pati's shirt leaving two pin holes and a dark smudge with it while saying "Welcome to India!" He then asked us to sign his book giving our names and where we are from. The book was a handwritten page from a notebook with names, home countries, and donation amounts of as much as 5000 rupees ($125). When Pati declined the opportunity to donate and gave the pin back, he told us we must donate "for the poor" and he was "just doing his job."

About a minute later, a nearly toothless man "gave" us a one minute tour of a tomb we were passing through to get away from the con man. We didn't want the tour but I gave him 10 rupees anyway. He looked at it and said "Only 10, give me a dollar!" Even by US standards, the tour was barely worth the rupees we gave him. Pati and Beebee ignored his indignation and ran. We can sprint too!

Our drivers

Indian tourism could not succeed without the Indian driver. We would not have gotten beyond the Arrivals Hall of Indira Gandhi International Airport without the Indian driver and we would never have seen all the wonders that we did see without the Indian driver. This essay is a testimonial to drivers Prem, Yogi, Thapa, Shiva, and Kumar (or, to be precise, we think Kumar is his name: all we really know is that he said he is the father of Naresh, who was supposed to be our driver but came down with a fever the night before we were to leave for Agra).

We first met Prem in the Arrivals Hall of Indira Gandhi International Airport on Wednesday, November 10. Our flight was scheduled to arrive at 2:40 am, but actually arrived at about 3:30 am. After a horrendously drawn out process of passport control and waiting at baggage claim until almost the last piece of luggage came off the plane, we trudged out into a small crowd waiting patiently behind a metal barrier. The time then was about 5 am. Prem was at the very end of the line of waiters, waving a sign with our name on it. No doubt he had been waiting there since well before 2:40 am. We were so pleased to see his welcoming smile and knew that everything would be all right. He took control of our luggage cart and got it onto an elevator to the car park. Leaving it with us only until he could retrieve his car, he then loaded it into the back of the car and proceeded to drive us to our Guest House through the unexpectedly heavy fog and traffic of the Delhi morning. Arriving there at about 6 am, he and another Guest House driver carried everything to our room, and then left us to try to salvage something of the night.

We first met Kumar (the father of Naresh) on the morning of Thursday, November 11. He was our driver for the Golden Triangle Tour and drove hundreds of long highway miles as well as many bumper-to-bumper fender-to-fender (any-car-body-part to any-other-car-body-part) miles inside cities and small towns over four days on the Delhi-Agra-Jaipur-Delhi loop. Riding with Kumar gave us a real appreciation of the skills of the typical Indian trying to get safely from one place to another when the roads are woefully inadequate for all the demands placed on them. As we learned on our last day with him, Kumar "owns" (that is, the bank owns) three cars that he uses in his driving business with his son. This business supports him, his wife, his parents, his son, his son's wife, and his son's children, all of whom live together, as a typical Indian extended family. When we arrived safely back at the Guest House, we each ( Pati and Beebee) had our picture taken with Kumar. Kumar said it was an experience he would always remember, and I know that we will, too.

Thapa is another driver associated with the Guest House. Thapa has taken us on trips around the city for sightseeing and shopping, to the ATM machine, etc.. Earlier in our stay, Thapa was assigned to us more, but Yogi seems to have become "our" driver now.

There are more Guest House drivers (perhaps four in all), but we haven't met them yet. Update: Shiva drove for us on Monday (November 22) since it was Yogi's day off.

Because of the distance involved whenever we leave the Guest House (really, it is distance measured in the time you are stuck in traffic jams and the gasoline expended trying to get anywhere), the driver makes only one trip out and back: he does not drive you somewhere, leave you there while he returns home, and then drive back to get you to take you back home. No, he drives you somewhere, parks near where you will be, waits patiently until you are ready to leave, and miraculously appears the second you appear to want him. And is cheerful about it. Yogi spent 7 hours with us on Friday while we visited a temple, ate lunch at a restaurant, and shopped in a small square. We don't know when or how (or whether!) he eats and drinks, but we hope he does. For this service, we pay the Guest House a reasonable half-day or full-day fee and give the driver a small tip, say 200 rupees (around $5 US) for a full day.

And yes, Yogi is "smarter than the average bear."